Latest reflections on the situation in England Yes, this week we hit 40,000 new DA and HA vacancies since the first COVID lockdown in March 2020. The total is not a completely true reflection of reality, because for various reasons the methods I use mean that not all vacancies will be picked up by my … Continue reading Week 166: Higher & Degree Apprenticeships overview – 40,000 vacancies analysed!

Latest reflections on the situation in England One of the most notable outcomes of my ongoing project to track degree and higher apprenticeships is the regional variations it has uncovered. The dominance of London hasn’t surprised me, but the strength of the South West certainly has. What I’m not quite sure about is whether the … Continue reading Week 165: Higher & Degree Apprenticeships overview – the South West does best

Latest reflections on the situation in England The summer months are usually a quieter time of year for new vacancies, and this was borne out again this week. However, health professions continued to be prominent with Cornwall being a very surprising hotspot, hence my featured image (with thanks on this occasion to Tim Hill on … Continue reading Week 164: Higher & Degree Apprenticeships overview – latest insights into a changing landscape

Latest reflections on the situation in England Once again this was a steady rather than prolific week, but that does tend to be the norm at this time of year. With my cumulative data approaching the 40,000 mark, it’s the broad occupational and regional patterns that continue to fascinate me and that compel me to … Continue reading Week 163: Higher & Degree Apprenticeships overview – steady growth

Latest reflections on the situation in England In a solid if unspectacular week health professions were prominent, especially Healthcare Science Practitioners (DAs) and Associates (HAs). That said, and as I’ve mentioned in previous updates, I always check out the person spec for NHS apprenticeships and the extent to which they’re suitable for inclusion in my … Continue reading Week 162: Higher & Degree Apprenticeships overview – health professions prominent

Latest reflections on the situation in England After a surprisingly busy Easter vacation period, Week 161 was slightly quieter but as always there were a few notable developments. Perhaps the most interesting was a batch of 13 HAs in Journalism with Leeds-based employer National World Publishing. This was significant not only because Journalism apprenticeships tend … Continue reading Week 161: Higher & Degree Apprenticeships overview – interesting developments

Latest reflections on the situation in England The two-week Easter vacation period was considerably busier than I expected and I crunched a total of 665 new vacancies to update my cumulative occupational and regional totals. In some cases precise numbers were open to interpretation, but I think my overall representation is realistic. Occupationally the big … Continue reading Week 160: Higher & Degree Apprenticeships overview – hundreds of new vacancies during the Easter vacation

Latest reflections on the situation in England It was a very good week for Higher Apprenticeships with the highlights being: 47 Public Relations & Communications HAs with the Government Communications Service, 29 of them in Whitehall and 18 scattered around Manchester, Bristol, Nottingham, York, Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle and Reading; 20 Investment Operations HAs with AJ … Continue reading Week 158: Higher & Degree Apprenticeships overview – a very good week for HAs

Latest reflections on the situation in England Week 157 saw my cumulative degree apprenticeship total pass the 20,000 mark and there was also an interesting mixed bag of new DA and HA vacancies. Prominent occupations included Learning Disability Nurses, Sports Coaches (working with children and young people), Data Analysts, Automation & Controls Technicians and Nursing … Continue reading Week 157: Higher & Degree Apprenticeships overview – DAs reach 20,000

Latest reflections on the situation in England It’s hardly a cause for celebration, but this Monday marks the third anniversary of the first COVID-19 lockdown when I made a fresh start to collecting data on degree and higher apprenticeships in England. I had already been doing it to inform and illustrate my ‘Options at 18’ … Continue reading Week 156: The Higher & Degree Apprenticeship landscape three years after ‘lockdown’